National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS)

National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS)

Subject : Science & tech

Context :A research paper by scientists at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), announcing a breakthrough in the field of chemical biology, and published in the prestigious Nature Chemical Biology (NCB), has been retracted as its key findings were manipulated.

Concept :

• National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bangalore, Karnataka, is a research centrespecialising in biological research.
• It is a part of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) under the Department of Atomic Energy of the Government of India.

Research paper

• On October 5, 2020, the paper “Discovery of iron-sensing bacterial riboswitches” was published online in the NCB. The publication was announced in an NCBS press release on October 6, 2020.
• The finding was significant as it announced the discovery of a new class of RNA (ribonucleic acid) molecules that could detect iron. Thus far, it was thought, iron could be detected only by specialised protein.
• RNA molecules, it has emerged, could detect nickel, cobalt, manganese but being able to detect iron, a key element that is vital for governing many biochemical processes, opened the possibility of designing RNA-based sensors.